Friday, October 30, 2009

Long-time readers of this blog may remember my posts about embarrassing things that have happened to me. I call them my Hall of Shame. I really don’t see what’s wrong with asking your handsome chiropractor to show you again the exercises he wants you to do daily. It was nice watching him do them the first time, and since they involved bending over, when he asked if I ‘got all that’, I lied and told him no. And asked if he could please do the first two exercises again?

He looked like George Clooney. And although I don’t condone lying, I do condone saying yes to something pleasurable. As long as nobody gets hurt, you know?

I’ve also written about my star-spangled underpants and the subsequent emergency room trip as a teenager, farting in that same handsome chiropractor’s face, and a former boss who had a wrap-around skirt that didn’t have quite enough fabric.

Well, this is yet another embarrassing situation for me and I’m writing it here because I enjoy making fun of myself. Besides, it made my husband laugh out loud when I told him this afternoon.

This morning, as I was coming down the road that leads to school, the radio station I was listening to queued up an old tune from the Allman Brothers Band, Southbound. If you’ve never heard it before, there’s a link to YouTube, but let me warn you, the song is almost 10 minutes long. It’s a classic Southern rock ballad and when we were young, my husband and I absolutely LOVED the Allman Brothers. My husband saw them play in ‘73 at Watkins Glen, along with the Grateful Dead and The Band. (We started dating in ‘76).

I have good acoustics in my Honda Element, so I cranked it up, turned into the long driveway to the prestigious private school where I work, and let the music overtake me.

When I finally pulled into my appointed parking spot out back, parents were dropping off their children in car line and teachers were arriving and getting out of their cars. I left the car running so I could hear some more of the song and maybe it was because I was feeling so good, maybe it was the fantastic memories the song brought back and maybe it was because it was just damn good music, but I totally. Rocked. Out. To. this song.

I played the air drums on my steering wheel. I rocked my head back and forth, and I’m sure I looked like an insane person but I didn’t really think anyone was looking. And for some crazy reason, I didn’t think anyone could hear how loud I was playing my car stereo.

And then, there was a knock on my window.

I jumped! It was my co-worker, Rich, who handles car line in the morning. He opened the door and was laughing at this point, and asked me if I was ok.

Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, I was so embarrassed. I got out of the car and parents were waving, co-workers were laughing, my friend Rich was telling them that he thought I was having some sort of seizure because, you know, I’d been in the hospital a couple weeks ago. Maybe I was having an attack of some kind.

I am usually very ladylike and I never rock out to music in public. Well, not anymore, but this song just took me back and sounded so damn good in my car that I wanted to listen to it just a little longer.

I think it’s my haircut and color. Because it really does rock.

Yeah, that’s probably it!

Until tomorrow, my friends . . .

PS ~ Thanks for all the wonderful comments on my husband's (er, George's) photography yesterday. If I read him some of the comments, he'll get all embarrassed, and we can't have that.

Thursday, October 29, 2009

First, I’d like to thank everyone who leaves a comment and visits this blog. When I began writing and sharing my photos (two years ago this Christmas), my goal was to have a place where people could come and feel peace and maybe share a laugh or two.

And from your comments, I realize that I have done that and it makes me glad. So thank you for your visits, your concern, your advice, your just plain wonderful comments, but most of all for your friendship.

Today I got home late. I promise I am not overdoing it, either. This afternoon, there came a point when I actually stopped what I was doing and realized, “hey, I feel better!” You said it would happen and it did. Then I went to the ladies room, washed my hands (again, because I had just handled money) and looked in the mirror. Damn, my roots needed help and my hair sure needed a cut. So back to my desk where I called my favorite salon (in Hoity-toity-ville, according to my co-worker, Rich) and tried to schedule an appointment for next week some time.

They didn’t have any appointments next week, and my stylist was booked through mid-November. But she DID have a cancellation at 5 PM today. So I grabbed it, hoping I could stay awake.

And I did. I felt very well. I got my hair cut and colored (sorry, no pics) and came home around 7:30 PM to a covered dinner plate that was still warm. I talked with my husband as I ate and he told me he was pretty bored today, but he did take a few photos.

All of the beautiful photographs you see here were taken by my husband, using our Nikon D80 with the 18-55 mm lens. He took them around magic hour, late in the afternoon when the sun was beginning its descent.

Many of you have noticed that the house has a widow’s walk on the top. When the section with the walk was built, in 1810, there was probably a pretty good view to the water. Of course, two hundred years later, there’s a lot of trees in the way now, but the view is still lovely. The original section (on the left) was built in 1769. We think that the little covered area you see where the sections meet was the original front entrance.

These were taken from the widow’s walk on the rooftop. The sky was dancing with clouds, turning the colors of the trees yellow, then gold.

I’m not fond of going up on the widow’s walk. It’s quite tricky getting up there, with a big step ladder on the third floor, and then placing your feet just so between the rafters of the roof. Freaks me out and I’ve only been up there once.

I told him how beautiful his photos were and that I wanted to use them for a post tomorrow. He said fine, but he didn’t take the photos, the dog did. “So don’t tell people I took the photos.” I just looked at him. He knows I’m telling people he took the photos.

We are truly blessed to live in this manor house on the hill with all its lovely trees. For everything that’s happened in our lives, we still have so much to be thankful for.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

I took these photos last year at this time. They were both taken in Delaware, and the great blue herons were taken at Bombay Hook Nat’l. Wildlife Refuge.

I’m posting them because of the colors; not that I feel blue. Well, maybe washed out a tad. I started back to work today and all went well. And I was very very tired by 2 PM. But I had a cup of tea waiting for me when I came home and yay! the caffeine didn’t do a number on my stomach.

I saw that Pioneer Woman is giving away a Kitchen Aid mixer today, a very special one, and when I last looked, the post had over 28,000 comments on it.

28,000 comments. It’s insane. I get nervous when I get 50 comments. If I thought that many people were reading my blog, I’d probably really freak. Wouldn’t you?

Speaking of freaky things, I came home today to see that the candles had been moved out of the fireplace and they were replaced with . . . well, with . . . are you ready for this?

They were replaced with a lava lamp.

I kid you not.

My husband likes to kick things up a notch every now and then. And when he plugged it in, I actually laughed out loud, harder than I have in a little while now. To see a blue lava lamp in the fireplace just strikes me as hilarious. (And a little hillbilly at the same time.)

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

As I write this, it’s Monday night. The Survivor Dancing Show (as my husband calls it) has just begun, my lunch is packed for tomorrow, my favorite white blouse is ironed and I am very tired. Tomorrow is my first day back at work and today, after my morning doctor’s appointment, my husband drove me to school where I surprised my co-workers with a visit.

It was so good to see everyone. And I do miss laughing.

Afterwards, we took a quick little trip to the Turkey Point Lighthouse. It’s about a 1 1/2 mile hike to the lighthouse and then we return by a different route. It was way too much for me, I must admit and I didn’t realize it until much later.

But it was worth it. I came home and fooled around with this photo, adding a few textures from Flypaper.

At the beginning of the hike by the parking lot, are these incredible views. The erosion along the top is quite pronounced and we noticed today that there have been new trees put in certain areas. This is the North East River we’re looking upon.

Another view of the cliffs, with a warning sign. We continued along the path towards the lighthouse.

The North East and the Elk Rivers converge at this point. This is the headwaters of the Chesapeake Bay and the view in front of the lighthouse.

Looking east towards the Elk River.

We return along a path that leads slowly down along the shoreline and brings you to a little beach. It was at this point that I realized that this walk was way too much for me to handle. So I took it very slowly all the way back to the car, resting at every bench I came to.

Elderly couples were passing me by, but I know I won’t always feel this way. As I watched them walk by, I thought to myself that when I am older, I still want to be taking walks just like this.

After coming home and having lunch, my husband suggested I take a nap and I surprised myself by sleeping for nearly 3 hours.

Monday, October 26, 2009

All of the photos here were taken on the property with the exception of the bottom right two. The pain au chocolate was taken in my former kitchen and I’ve got the recipe on PW’s Tasty Kitchen site, as well as [here]. They are scrumptious. The glass pumpkin next to it, in the bottom right corner, was taken in New Orleans this summer.

I’ve got another mosaic offering over at my Picture A Day blog, as well. Sometimes I just feel like making a nice mosaic, so there you go. This one was made using the Mosaic Maker at Big Huge Labs. I find it easier having a Flickr account when using this template, but it’s not necessary.

To view many different offerings from all over the country and beyond, please visit my friend Mary at Little Red House where she hosts a weekly theme featuring mosaics.

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Every 3-4 months or so, my husband plans a big grocery shopping trip to Shady Maple Farm Market in East Earl, PA. This is where we buy our meats and the produce there cannot be beat. Well, it can I’m sure, but their produce is excellent and they have everything.

Our journey takes just over an hour from our home and we travel through Amish country. We used to live up in Pennsylvania for years, in Chester County, and Shady Maple is where we regularly shopped. We’ve been going there for close to 30 years and have watched it grow from a regular-sized grocery store to something mammoth. It even has its own smorgasbord next door, where you can gorge yourself with Pennsylvania Dutch cookin’ and everything in- between. We stay away from the smorgasbord.

I took these shots on the journey home.

I would have liked to get out of the car but sometimes that’s just not possible.

We drove along familiar roads and passed places we used to live, the playground where I’d regularly take our boys to play when they were very young, and well-tended Amish farms.

My husband would slow down when he saw me pull the camera up.

It’s always soothing along these familiar roads of Pennsylvania.

I didn’t fare so well at Shady Maple, though. What is it with anesthesia? Or maybe it was all the drugs in the hospital last week, but when the car stopped, it felt like I was still moving. The store was blowing my mind with just how much of everything there was. Too many things. Too many decisions. Thank heavens it wasn’t packed yet, as we got there around 8:30, but I felt confused after we were done in the produce section and eventually went back to the car to sit down. I gotta get over this.

I took a small walk with camera in tow when we got home and suddenly it began to rain. I tried to walk as fast as I could up the hill back towards the house and saw my husband running down towards me. He brought me an umbrella, opened it up and handed it to me and then ran back up to the house. Wow!

Friday, October 23, 2009

After our brief excursion to Chesapeake City yesterday, we drove east and then came back along the canal roads, stopping here to take in the view.

This is the Summit Bridge, the next bridge to the east of the Chesapeake City Bridge.

And I like this view, as well. (Hey, I must be feeling much better).

It was wonderful here in the sunshine on a beautiful October day. In the very center of the photo, you can see the Chesapeake City Bridge in the distance. And just to the right of it, we see what looks to be a tug pulling a barge.

It’s the Path Finder, a tugboat out of Chesapeake City. These little boats always surprise me with their immense strength.

It’s pulling the Chesapeake, a barge based in Philadelphia. I only know this because I read the writing on the sides and the back.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I am beginning to get my strength back and am so glad of it, although I wasn’t able to return to work this week as I’d hoped. I miss my work, my friends and co-workers, the children.

For now, Survivor is on (my husband’s favorite show) and it’s a good one tonight. The good Russell was removed from the game due to health issues and that rotten little monster (the bad Russell) remains in the game. He is a feisty little shit guy.

My first movie came today in the mail! My friend, Dlyn, sent me a coupon for a free month of Netflix and I signed on. This afternoon, I watched I Love You, Man. Was not impressed. I really thought it would be funny, although I did laugh out loud two or three times. I have better ones coming from my list, though although I’d love to hear your suggestions on a good movie to rent.

Thursday, October 22, 2009

The wonderful integer generator at Random.org was used to draw the winner for the texture photograph giveaway. I used it twice because the first number chosen was someone who had won one of my contests in the past. So I hit it again, and it gave me #41, which happens to be Chesapeake Bay Woman.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Today was incredibly beautiful. Although I’m still under a bit of a fog and moving slowly, I can see a light at the end of the tunnel. This morning, I took a walk using the hiking poles we bought from REI. They really made a difference. I only tried to nap on them twice and made it around the entire property one time. “Slow and steady, steady and slow, that’s the only way to go”, chanted my husband as I heard him come up behind me when I was about two thirds of the way around.

Later on, my husband asked me if I’d like to go for a ride in the car. And I swear, just being out there, moving, looking at the scenery on this beautiful day, it made my heart sing. Now I know how dogs feel when they go for the Ride in The Car. I lay back and let the air hit my face. I don’t even care where we were going, I just wanted to be away.

I brought the camera just in case.

Here we are going south over the C&D Canal (the canal that leads from the Delaware River to the Chesapeake Bay). I used to drive over this bridge every day to get to work when we lived on the horse farm outside of Chesapeake City.

I love this little canal town and was surprised when my husband pulled into Chesapeake City, parked and asked if I could take a small walk. This is a little park here, the Pell Gardens. The bridge we just travelled over is in the background.

We found a small bench by the water and I sat down and snapped a few photos.

This was a funny looking boat that was going by.

We walked around the docks and here is yet again another photo of my husband’s back but I don’t care. I wanted to show you George, who does not have sea legs and was extremely wary of the floating docks. See that gangplank in the background? You should have seen him going over it. He looked very odd, poor thing.

This is looking towards one of the restaurants on the water, the Chesapeake Inn. Moored out front looks to be a huge yacht, which is in the center of this photo. I love that they installed all these lovely walkways complete with benches. I needed the benches today.

On our way back to the car, we decide to take the street route. I said yes because I knew there would be benches along the street where we were going. This is a lovely B&B where I did an install years ago with my decorator friend, Kathy. I wonder if those window treatments are still in that bedroom.

I like the old-time feel of this town. And I was especially enamored with this little lantern. When I feel better, I’m going back to see if it’s for sale at this shop.

I looked in the windows of one of my favorite shops. The town is full of this sort of thing, plus antiques and artworks.

And my favorite restaurant ever, The Bayard House, on the water. Thirty years ago, when we lived in Pennsylvania, we would travel to this restaurant because it is that good. I have never had a meal there that wasn’t wonderful. And downstairs is a unique little bar called The Hole in the Wall. They make the most wonderful bloody mary’s and it was fun bringing overnight guests here on a weekend morning and having a drink on the water and then perusing the shops of this little town.

I’ll announce the giveaway winner in the morning Thursday. As I write this post, it’s Wednesday night. I hope you’ve enjoyed my ride in the car today. I sure did!!

My name is Kate. I live in Maryland with a border collie named George in an old manor house that predates the Revolutionary War. I began this blog in 2007 to share my photography with my family and friends. Welcome.

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